The present invention relates to the field of layered objects. More specifically, the present invention relates to cut and peripherally fused layered objects.
Flexible layered objects may be used in various fields to provide padding, increased strength, and/or puncture resistance to other devices of which the objects are a part. For, example, flexible layered objects have been used extensively as insulative padding for clothing, blankets, quilts and the like. Similarly, flexible layered objects are often used as to produce tow or tie-down straps, webbing, etc. In the medical and investigative fields, flexible layered objects are utilized as puncture-resistant pads within surgical and examination gloves, etc. In all these uses, the flexible layered object provides some combination of insulation, strength, and/or penetration resistance either directly or indirectly applicable to the device of which the object is a part while maintaining flexibility and conformity.
The need for flexibility and conformity may be illustrated with a surgical or examination glove. Members of the medical and other professions often encounter situations where there is a strong need to prevent the transmission of disease, toxins, or other contaminants. The latex surgical or examination glove has proven to be a preferred choice in the establishment of a transmission barrier without impeding the treatment or examination. Unfortunately, the latex glove is fragile and subject to penetration. Medical, fire, police, and other personnel are often placed in circumstances where a penetration of a glove by a needle, debris, or even a broken bone may expose the individual to debilitating or even fatal results.
To inhibit such a penetration of the glove, and a resultant exposure, a double-glove technique is often used where an inner glove is placed over the hand and an outer glove is placed over the inner glove, with barriers placed between the two gloves in critical areas to inhibit penetration. Therefore, if a penetration of the outer glove occurs, the barrier arrests the penetrating object and inhibits penetration of the inner glove, thus maintaining the protective barrier.
The objects used as barriers in the above scenario are typically metallic cots, chain mail, metallic sheets, rubber-covered nylon or polyester pads, rubber cots, nylon or polyester cots, and/or nylon or polyester sheets. Such objects may be held in place by adhesives, by tension between the inner and outer gloves, or as an integral part of either the inner or outer glove. All such objects have individual advantages and disadvantages.
Desirably, an object for use with surgical or examination gloves should exhibit sufficient flexibility to conform to the shape of the proximate portion of the hand. Additionally, the object should be thin enough to allow the transmission of tactile sensation. These characteristics are especially desirable in pads or sheets located proximate the palmar surface of a distal phalange.
Thin, layered polyester pads form objects exhibiting the desired characteristics. When formed of layers woven of twisted microfibers, such objects exhibit considerable penetration resistance while maintaining the desired flexibility and tactile transmission. Because of the binding properties of tightly woven microfiber polyester, such objects are especially resistant to pointed penetrators, such as needles, shrapnel, splinters, etc.
A problem exists, however, in the cutting and bonding of woven microfiber layers. Once cut, the individual layers are difficult to maintain in alignment for bonding. This problem is especially pronounced in smaller objects, such as fingertip pads, as the layers are then both thin and small in area. This leads to bonding-before-cutting processes, with attendant wastage.
Further problems exist in the bonding of such layers. When bonding is accomplished by sewing, a ridge is raised that decreases the overall flexibility. Even if tacking is used to prevent the formation of a continuous ridge, the tacking leaves small bumps. The ridge or bumps interfere with the transference of tactile sensation and produce an uncomfortable fit of the object.
In other applications, a variety of materials, from plastics to metals, are bonded by fusing or welding. However, conventional fusing techniques require a surface administration of the requisite heat. Such a surface administration produces a relatively stiff fusion area. This in turn decreases flexibility and conformity of the object, thus decreasing its usefulness.
Accordingly, it is an advantage of the present invention that a coincidentally cut and fused object and method is provided.
It is another advantage of the present invention that a method is provided wherein a plurality of layers of a fusible sheet material may be cut and coincidentally fused to form an object.
It is another advantage of the present invention that the cutting and fusing activities provide a flexible periphery for the object.
It is another advantage of the present invention that the fusing activity forms substantially ridgeless junctures between surfaces of the object and a flexible periphery of the object.
It is another advantage of the present invention that an object is formed from a plurality of fusible woven polyester sheets.
It is another advantage of the invention that layers of the object may be substantially identical.
It is another advantage of the invention that a surface of the object may have an adhesive coating.
The above and other advantages of the present invention are carried out in one form by a method of constructing a flexible object formed of a plurality of mutually conjoined layers through the activities of positioning a first layer of a fusible sheet material over a work surface, positioning a second layer of a fusible sheet material over the first layer, cutting a layer periphery of the object through each of the layers by moving the layers relative to a laser cutting head, fusing, coincidentally with the cutting activity, the layer peripheries with the laser cutting head to form an object periphery, and maintaining the layers stationary relative to each other during the coincident cutting and fusing activities.
The above and other advantages of the present invention are carried out in another form by a flexible object having a plurality of mutually conjoined layers, wherein the object incorporates first and second layers each having inner and outer surfaces and coupled so that the inner surfaces face each other, at least one intermediate layer coupled between the first and second layers, and an object periphery formed by substantially simultaneously cutting a layer periphery of each of the layers and coincidentally fusing each of the layer peripheries to each other with a fusional laser cutting head.